mot-eur, -rice, adj., motive, propelling, driving.
motif, n.m., motive, incentive, incitement; ground, cause; (mus.) subject; (paint.) design, pattern. Pour quel —? on what ground? on what score? Faire valoir les —s; (jur.) to show cause.
motion, n.f., motion. Faire appuyer, faire adopter, une —; to make, to support, to carry, a motion.
motiver, v.a., to allege, to assign, as a motive; to be the cause of, to justify, to bring about; to lead to. Se —, v.r., to be founded or justified.
motte, n.f., clod; ball of earth; turf (fuel); lump, roll (of butter).
se motter, v.r., (hunt.) to lurk behind a clod.
motteux, n.m., (orni.) fallow-finch; wheatear.
motu proprio, adv., on one’s own impulse, spontaneously, of one’s own accord.
motus! (-tûs), int., mum! silence! not a word!
mou, mol, adj.m., molle, f., soft, mellow; weak; slack, feeble, nerveless, flabby; inactive; sluggish; tame, effeminate, careless, luxurious. Cire molle; soft wax. Poires molles; mellow pears. Style mou; nerveless style. Mer molle; (nav.) slack water. [Mol is used in the masc. before a vowel or h mute.]